Hippocampus: The Rebirth

"What the heck!?! What in Poseidon's ocean happened?" The white pony with his silver mane and his blue green fish tale asked himself as he woke up from the long sleep he put himself in to survive that horrid pony’s wrath. Her swirling eye's still haunted Saris after what seemed to be a millennium of sleep. He looked around, what had been the master bedroom of house he had raised his children in. Clara, oh I hope she's OK he thought to himself as he swam to the room she had begun her sleep in.

When he got there he saw her tub was still covered. He crept towards her tub. He started to slowly remove the sheet over the tub, as it floated to the floor Saris Saw the skeletal remains if his beloved wife. His freshwater tears fled from his eyes, him being under water they were only visible for a moment before they were consumed by the salt of the ocean. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" he shouted in his agony. "Nnnnnoooooo!!!!" he shouted again.

She was still wearing the pearl necklace he had given her the night of their wedding. He couldn't leave it here, but to remove it may damage the remains of his beloved Clara. He reached down and grabbed the necklace, he turned it so that the hooks where visible. He used his hooves to undo them and gently removed the necklace from around Clara's fragile neck. He pulled the necklace close to his heart, he was crying harder now. He was resting by her tub crying for at least an hour.

Well, this is by far the worst day of my life, I guess I should check on the others he thought, his heart heavy for the fear of what he would find in the other tubs. As he swam down to the lower floors of his once ornate house to the rooms of his three darling children. His heart lurched as he saw the door to his first and eldest daughter's room cracked open.

He gently pushed it open and glanced at his daughter's tub. He didn't have to remove her sheet, her sheet had fallen in the tub and it had depressed onto her skeleton. Saris turned away shedding more tears, Oh Poseidon I hope the other two are in better condition he thought.

He turned to the room that had been his only son's; his door was still magically shut. He swam over to it as he went to open the door he dared not think to hope to see his son alive. He was able to open the enchanted door through his blood binding on it. He crept into the room and saw his sons tub. the roof had clasped into it, there was a beam sticking out of it. Saris cheeped closer for a better look and saw that the beam had pierced his only son's chest killing him. By the position of his son's body, he knew my son was awake when he had died, the beam didn't kill him immediately this thought would have made him throw up if he had had anything in his stomach to throw up.

He left the room quickly; the last room was that of his youngest daughter. He didn't think he could handle the heartache of seeing his little girl dead, but no if she was alive he had to free her from the spell.

He opened the door to her room, immediately his heart sank. His sweet little girl’s room was nothing but a hole in the side of his house. There wasn't even a hint of his little girl’s belongings.

Saris shouted " By Poseidon!!!!!!" his outburst scaring the nearby fish.

He bowed his head and began to sob "What could have gone wrong, That spell was to preserve us until that evil being of chaos was destroyed. How could this have happened?"

He closed the door to his Daughter's room and went into the entrance way of his once ornate house. He turned to where his parlor should be and swam to it. As he entered the parlor he saw the one thing that wasn't decayed was his white gold trident which signified his station as the third in line for the Coral Crown, should both his brothers and their families die.

He grabbed the trident and moved his hoof over it he read the engraving aloud "Octotear" in fact the animal that represented him was the octopus, well to be specific the Mimic Octopus. This trident had been custom made for the youngest son of the king, at the top the spear points had been shaped to look like the tentacles of an octopus and at the base of the three spear tips was the constantly changing white gold body of an octopus, as though it was real.

He thought of his brothers, he knew that the middle brother had bravely fought Screwball and her army so he and the others could survive; well he was the barracuda after all. His brother was in the palace was most likely still in his tub in the palace. Yes the king, also known as the Stone fish, named for his ability to not be noticed then BAM he's there and he's fierce.

"Well I better get to the Coral Palace" Saris said to himself, "no use keeping my brother asleep".

He was about to leave the parlor when he saw it. It wasn't a fish no it was one of those things that Screwball had used to destroy the city. He griped his trident and the three tentacles started to glow.

The Chaos Elemental was fast but Saris was faster. As the Chaos Elemental rushed him a long red tentacle appeared from a smell vortex on tip of the trident and warped itself around the Chaos Elemental. The Chaos Elemental wriggled as much as it could before the tentacle began to crush the poor thing.

There was hate in Saris's eyes as he saw the Chaos Elemental's eye’s begun to bulge. "This is for Clara!" he shouted at the nearly dead Elemental.

As the Chaos Elemental died Saris found no peace in the act. He shook his head It is the fool who thinks killing thy enemy will bring him peace The quote from his father played in his mind.

He also remembered the reply of the unicorn general had given And it is a moron that thinks that killing thy enemy will not bring the ocean peace. The good unicorn had often had such bouts with the king, his old friend. Ah those were the days when I had fallen for their solar leader Princess Celestia, I wish it had worked out. "But the past is the past" he accidentally said aloud.

He clutched Octotear his trident and swam out into the grand entrance hall. He turned towards the remnants of his coral door; he swam over to it and pushed it open. He swam out onto Octopus Street; you get one guess why it was named that. He looked up and down the street and saw the decaying buildings.

"I wonder if the clock tower is still operating?" he asked himself. He knew it wouldn't work after five hundred years but it would at least tell him if it had been more or less than five hundred years.

He swam strait up above the house and turned towards the clock tower. It still stood firm, it had been built to survive the ocean currents without maintenance for five thousand years, the clock's spring needed to be wound every four hundred years leaving one hundred years for leeway.

As he swam over the inner part of the town he saw a glisten of another Hippocampus's scales and he swam down to see who it was.

"Hail" the blue Hippocampus said as she bowed seeing the Prince swimming to him.

"That is not necessary now" Saris said to the Hippocampus.

"Forgive me crown prince, for it seems like only yesterday that this city was in full glory" the Hippocampus said to Saris.

"By Poseidon! If it isn't the flying fish herself!" Saris said in surprise.

"You know of me?"

"You were once likely to be my sister-in-law and second in line to be the queen." Saris said explaining.

This caused the hippocampus to blush, "How did you know? We only met in secret." she asked confused.

"Do you remember the rumors that I was in charge of the secret organization the Crimson Eels? Well they were based in fact."

This caused the hippocampus to stumble back in horror; she had heard the rumors of what that particular group was capable of.

Saris saw the look on her face "I see you heard the rumors of what that particular group was capable of. But do remember that most of them died in the war with Screwball."

"For some reason I don't believe you..." the hippocampus said.

"Oh please the Crimson Eels sole job was to protect this ocean from all who would want to hurt it and us!"

"So was the royal army's!"

"Keira! Stop! We need to find out how long we were asleep!"

"Is that an order" Keira spat back.

"If it must be an order to the flying fish then it is!"

"Fine!...how the heck do we figure out how long we were asleep" Keira asked him.

"Well if we were sleeping for fewer than five hundred years then the clock tower would be able to tell us."

"Right! let’s go!"

Saris shook his head in agitation, "You're going the wrong way!" he shouted to her. He began to swim slowly in the right direction. She eventually caught up to him.

As they neared the tower, Saris saw the hands were caked with coral. "Well we know we've been asleep for more than five hundred." Saris muttered, as grim look on his face.

"We were only supposed to be asleep for a hundred years! What in Poseidon's Ocean happened!?!"

"I honestly have no idea of what went wrong. Maybe the chaos magic in the water affected our sleep. Maybe we were betrayed by an infiltrator. Or maybe that monster is still alive." Saris said the look on his face turning into one of sorrow. "Fifteen thousand hippocampus sleeping reduced to two.!" his look of sorrow getting deeper.

"We don't know that we're the only two." Keira said trying to comfort her prince.

"We need to get to the Palace! Perhaps my brother and the Queen are still alive!" Saris exclaimed with a sudden change of emotion.

They made it to the palace in record time; unfortunately the great entry way had been locked shut by rust and coral. "Great now how do we get in?" Keira asked turning to Saris, only to see that he wasn't there. She began to panic “Saris! Where are you!?!" She shouted moving her head around frantically, she didn't see him anywhere.

"I'm up here!" She heard Saris's voice coming from above her. Keira looked up and saw Saris bashing the lock door to the royal balcony where the king would address the citizens of this once great kingdom.

Keira swam up to him, “what are you doing!?!” she asked him surprised by his force.

“Breaking into the Coral Palace via its balcony!” he shouted bashing the door with his shoulder. The door was giving but, however life had found a way in and was making it hard to open the door.

“Oh, to Hades with it!” Saris shouted the vile curse, as he backed up and aimed the points of his white gold trident at the door. The eyes of the little gold octopus turned towards the door and a small vortex came from the center point of the trident. Out of the vortex the large red tentacle appeared and slammed against the door. It wreathed agents the door until a crack appeared and it slipped into it. There was multiple crashing sounds as the coral inside was being crushed. The tentacle slipped out and returned back into the vortex as it closed.

Saris swam up to the door and gently pushed the door open. As opened he saw the mess his tentacle had made, but he also saw what looked like a fireplace, he had forgotten that his brother had converted this room into a parlor for his enjoyment. Of course they were under water so if anyone else had installed a fireplace they would have looked insane. His brother on the other hand had had control of the Aqua Flame, a fire that burned so powerfully that it was impervious to water.

He crept into the room and turned to the door way, Keira close behind him. “Where do you think our king is?” Keira asked Saris.

Saris pondered a second "Ether the master bedroom, or the imperial vault." Saris said motioning to the master bedroom, "it will be easier to check there first".

"Very well" Keira said swimming for the bedroom. "Oh no, there was a magical seal here, now it's broken!"

"That is no reason for alarm, there has always been a seal on that door." Saris said swimming up to the door. He gently pushed it open. Inside there was a tub with a sheet stretched over it. Saris's heart grew heavy, he didn't want to see his brother’s corpse in there, he couldn't handle it, and he just couldn't.

"Saris are you not well?" Keira asked him.

"I don't want to see my brother’s corpse in that tub" he said sounding a million miles away.

"Then I will check" Keira said patting him on the back.

"Fine" Saris said grimly.

Keira swam over to the tub, and lifted up the sheet. She gave it a tug and it came off. As it fell to the floor she turned with a look of remorse in her eyes "May the great Stone Fish rest in his true form" she said with deep remorse.

Saris swam up to the tub, he peered in and saw his brother’s remains. His brother had gone into his sleep wearing the Coral Crown. Saris did not relish having to remove the crown, but he was the new king now and it was a necessary to be holding the crown when one was inaugurated. He reached down and grabbed the Coral Crown and tried to remove it without disturbing its remains. As he pulled it the back of the crown coughs the back of his brother’s head and nearly pulled the top of the fragile skull. He got it off and lifted it up "now where's his trident?" Saris asked looking around for it.

Keira looked around "it's not here" she said.

"What!?! This day truly is the worst day of my life!" Saris yelled with the deep primal agony that we all keep locked up in the deepest part of our heart. "First I wake after who knows how long to find my house in tatters, then I find my family dead in their tubs, I leave the grim sight to find my race in the same condition, and now my king and brother lies dead in his own Palace, and to make matters worse his soul is lost to wonder the ocean because he was to foolish to keep his trident by his tub!"

Keira had forgotten that the royal family sent their souls into their trident upon dying, that would allow their souls to poses the soulless eggs of their spirit animal. But their trident was their conduit that their soul would go to in between lives.

"We need to find his trident, so I can transfer the Sea Force to his to mine" he said tightening his grip on Octotear.

"Where would it be?"

"I can honestly have no idea where the heck it would be"

It took them about three hours to find his brothers trident, Keira actually found it next to a tub in the imperial vault. She grabbed it and swam out the vault. "Saris!!!!" she shouted.

"What!?!" his echo shouted back to her.

"I found it!!" she shouted to his echo.

"Great meet me into the throne room!" she heard his echo yell. She quickly swam to the throne room. As she entered her eyes were drawn to the giant pearl known to all as the Heart of the Sea.

Saris followed her gaze and saw she was staring at the Heart of the Sea" Ah. yes, the Heart does not decay at all" Saris said to her. "Now give me the trident", she gave it to him and he handed her the Coral Crown. "As I hold the tridents You need to place the Coral Crown on my head while I face the Heart of the Sea. The moment you let go of the crown you need to close your eyes lest the Sea Force destroy you."

"I understand" She said assuredly.

"Be sure you do, I don't want to be the last Hippocampus in existence.

"I do"

"Good, once I am done with the chant place the crown on my head. “he said as he turned to towards the Heart of the Sea. "Oh by the Power of the Sea I beseech thee to pass on the Sea Force from one king to the next like the great currents of the oceans and sea!" he felt the Coral Crown land on his head.

There was a great light from the Heart of the Sea, then he heard a booming feminine voice "And so the Octopus has returned into the fray, yes the third son of the third son of the third son. These generations have allowed you to reincarnate Great One. Your power is returned to you after three hundred millennium. Now know that your immortality is returned and your Beasts of the Sea are yours again to control."

Keira's eyes were clenched shut until she heard Saris's voice tell her to open her eyes. Once he had done so she was in ah. The Coral Crown had become more ornate then she had ever seen it, he had groan a long silver grey beard, and his long body had been covered by a cloak with a gold trim.

"Wow" that was all she could say, her mind was trying to process what had just seen. Then a thought crossed her mind he looked exactly like the old portraits of the last immortal Hippocampus, the controller of the abyss, the life bringer. He looked like the being who was the ancestor to the royal family, and who had put all of his remaining power into the Heart of the Sea, Sea Force and the Kings Trident.

"Saris you look like The Forgotten" she managed to get out.

"Nay! I am he, for my name was lost intentionally and my punishment is served, for I am Saris the Immortal and the Ruler of the Seas!" he bellowed.